Tunnel: The second Harry Potter?

June 2007 18 Shenzhen Business Daily

The new book excavated by the "father of Harry Potter" is expected to become a "blockbuster" in the book industry again when it is published next month.

Tunnel: The second Harry Potter?

"Will's overall image is quite strange. He was wearing his "digging suit"-an oversize wool cardigan with leather padded elbows, and a pair of muddy and stiff sweatpants. The only thing clean in the whole body is the metal toes exposed by his beloved shovel and work boots. "

The British publisher "Chicken House Bookstore" showed the excerpts of the new novel "Tunnel" in the media on June 16, which can be said to have aroused readers' appetite. The strange boy named Will described in it is the second Harry Potter that Barry Cunningham, the owner of Chicken House Bookstore, wants. Cunningham was the first "Bole" who found J.K. Rowling and signed a contract with her, so he was called "the father of Harry Potter". When the trend of "Harry Potter" is about to fade in July, Cunningham hopes that Will Barros, the "archaeological boy" he excavated, can replace the "magical boy" Harry Potter and become a new romantic figure.

Pre-sales are second only to Harry Potter.

Although Tunnel has not yet been published, in fact, on the list of Amazon, the largest book website in the United States, the pre-sale volume of Tunnel has ranked third, second only to the two books of Harry Potter. Moreover, three Hollywood film companies have purchased the film adaptation rights of Tunnel. On June 16, Barry Cunningham flew to new york to discuss with these three companies. Cunningham said: "I have never met a filmmaker who wants to arrest me so much."

The Tunnel, which will be published on July 2nd, was written by two unknown authors, Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. Don't ignore the potential of the tunnel. Rowling, a poor single mother, became popular because of Barry Cunningham's eye for pearls. Now The Legend of Harry Potter has spread all over the world and sold 325 million copies, making Rowling the first billionaire author in the world. In addition, Cunningham also discovered the German "Rowling"-Cornelia Funk, a children's literature writer who has written famous works such as The Lord of the Rings and Knight of the Silver Dragon. J.K. Rowling once lamented, "Without Cunningham, Harry Potter would still be in a daze in the cupboard under the stairs."

The publishing industry's "super talent scout" is making every effort to build.

Barry Cunningham discovered the book tunnel at the International Children's Book Exhibition and Trade Fair held in Bologna, Italy. Cunningham said: "When I opened the first page of Rowling's Harry Potter, I knew that this book had great magic, and Tunnel also gave me the same surprise."

Roderick Gordon, 46, and Brian Williams, 48, met at university. After graduation, they went to a completely different career. Gordon became an investment banker and Williams became an artist. Gordon works in an investment bank and has a very rich life, while Williams continues to study art in London while working in an art studio and a film studio. Because of their obsession with archaeology, in the summer of 2004, they began to write Tunnel in Gordon's garden-a strange experience of an archaeological boy in his teens and his friend Chester in the depths of London. Williams said: "Since the idea of writing a story about the mysterious world under our feet, Roderick and I have never looked back. We can't write faster. "

They thought that this book would not get the attention of mainstream publishers. After writing, Gordon also sold his house. The two of them published their own books, and only 2500 copies were printed. The title of the book is not "Tunnel", but "Pursuit of Highlands". Now, after being photographed by Barry Cunningham, a "super talent scout" in the publishing industry, he bought the book 15 languages for priority publishing, and accumulated 500,000 pounds for the two. Barry Cunningham is very optimistic about the future of Tunnel, and has signed the second part of Tunnel with two authors.